The Experiential Space—extending the brand beyond the bricks and out into the world.

It’s within these spaces where connections happen. Where relationships begin. Where brand moments are stitched together to form impressions, drive loyalty, and build advocacy with consumers that they can rally around. Whether micro or macro they all add up to fuel a brand’s identity.

Brands are part of everyday lives and occupy critical space in a consumer’s meta-story. A meta-story that is making both emotional and transactional investments back into a brand in ways that shape life patterns, dictate consumer behavior, and ultimately make personal identity statements about who we are. It’s life and it’s how we live it.

Cornerstone to this meta-story is music. The most emotional content a brand can use to communicate its identity. A medium transcending transaction and resonating not only inside, but outside of the moment of purchase. It’s a lifestyle medium that perpetually bonds brand and consumer, the only global medium that has the power to unite and influence.

“ Marketers of brands often say, ‘We want to be that BFF. You know, the one that’s always in-the-know. And music is an important part of that conversation.' ”

Millennials Connect with Music

Like fashion, music is a form of self-expression — one that millennials self-identify through more than any other category. Traditional goals like buying a house or a car might not seem as attainable as they once were, but one’s personal brand? Now that’s something easily owned. Through jeans and headphone jacks, consumers tell the world who they are and who they want to be.

The retail brands that are successfully integrating music do so through thoughtful, interesting opportunities for millennial consumers to co-create and actively participate in culturally relevant, branded experiences. They range from intimate but epic store parties to sponsored educational workshops to crowd-sourced design initiatives. When their customers participate, they do so willingly because the brand is creating a meaningful connection, providing real value, and delivering joy. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what music is all about?

About PlayNetwork

PlayNetwork is the leading global provider of music and entertainment media experiences for brands worldwide. We partner with over 400 brands spanning 110,000 customer locations in more than 110 countries, our work reaching 100 million people every day. This post is a part of our Keys to Marketing with Music series. To learn more about PlayNetwork, visit www.PlayNetwork.com.